The Three Year College Degree

A pair of articles caught my eye recently over at College Inc. on the topic of the three year degree. Traditionally in the United States a bachelor’s degree has been laid out so that you could earn it if you stay on track and focused in eight semesters of study spread over four years with no summer school. I have long wondered though when some schools would promote the fact that you could track students through with some summer studies to complete 120 credit hours in three years. That time is clearly upon us.

The first article is “Higher-ed association attacks three-year degree” and the second “Hartwick president defends three-year degree.” Of the schools mentioned, the one that caught my eye as a school with a large music program was the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In their website in the article “New Three-Year Degree Initiative Offers Accelerated Path to Graduation” we learn

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is launching UNCG in 3, a new initiative that will allow highly motivated students to graduate in just three years.

The program is designed for the growing number of high school seniors who enter the university with transferable college credit earned through Advanced Placement (AP), UNCG iSchool or other early college programs. Incoming freshmen with 12 or more credit hours will be eligible to participate….

Students enrolled in UNCG in 3 are able to save up to $8,000 in tuition, fees, room and board. They will earn the same high-quality degree UNCG typically offers, but at an accelerated pace by taking classes year-round. The University will provide both priority advisor support and priority scheduling to ensure that all degree requirements are met….

Here’s how it works – the student would need to take and pass at least 16 credits each fall and spring plus seven credits each for two summer sessions. The savings assumes that the student would take the summer courses online.

Check any of the articles linked for more details on the concept. AP credits and online classes in the summers are keys to the plan in general.

It is just a matter of time but I think many schools must be looking at this very seriously including many other schools that offer music degrees. This will be a special challenge for these programs as it is already very difficult to track music education students through in four years with student teaching and they will now have to devise a way to do it in three.

Agree or disagree with the three year plan, certainly all students should try to stay on track to be done in four years if possible and move on to looking for work or graduate school. The president of Hartwick College offers this in her article which I will leave as a final point to consider.

As for breadth, a 120 credit bachelor’s degree is a 120 credit bachelor’s degree, whether it takes three or four (or five or six) years to complete. The current debate exposes the fact that some in the education community have more tolerance for extending the time to graduate than they have for shortening it. Colleges do not promote the fact of five- and six-year undergraduate degrees. That is because most students who take longer to complete their undergraduate degree (or who never graduate at all) often extend the period of study because they can’t get the courses they need, or can’t afford to complete the experience. Can anyone actually argue that this a better educational approach than an intentional and well-supported three years of study that resulted in degree completion?